# Thomas Rickman > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Thomas_Rickman > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Thomas_Rickman.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Rickman > Source revision: 1320675608 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|English architect (1776–1841)}} {{other people}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}} {{Use British English|date=February 2013}} {{Infobox person/Wikidata | fetchwikidata = ALL }} '''Thomas Rickman''' (8 June 1776{{snd}}4 January 1841) was an English [architect](/source/architect) and architectural [antiquary](/source/antiquarian) who was a major figure in the [Gothic Revival](/source/Gothic_Revival). He is particularly remembered for his ''Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of English Architecture'' (1817), which established the basic chronological [classification](/source/Typology_(archaeology)) and terminology that are still in widespread use for the different styles of English medieval ecclesiastical architecture. ==Early life== Rickman was born on 8 June 1776 at [Maidenhead, Berkshire](/source/Maidenhead), into a large [Quaker](/source/Quaker) family. He avoided the medical career envisaged for him by his father, a grocer and druggist, and instead went into business for himself. He married his first cousin Lucy Rickman in 1804, a marriage that estranged him from the Quakers.{{cite book|title=A Quaker Miscellany for Edward H. Milligan|last=Kerr|first=Alex|publisher=David Blamires|year=1985|pages=111–120|chapter=Thomas Rickman in France|editor1-first=David|editor1-last=Blamires|editor2-first=Jeremy|editor2-last=Greenwood|editor3-first=Alex|editor3-last=Kerr|place=Manchester|isbn=0-9510152-1-4}} ==Antiquarian activities== The failure of his business dealings in London and the death of his first wife left Rickman despondent: the long walks into the countryside that he took for his state of mind were the beginning of his first, [antiquarian](/source/antiquary) interest in church architecture. All his spare time was spent in sketching and making careful measured drawings,{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} and classifying medieval architecture, at first through its window tracery, into the sequence that he labelled "[Norman](/source/Norman_architecture)" "[Early English](/source/Early_English_Period)", "[Decorated English](/source/Decorated_Period)" and "[Perpendicular English](/source/Perpendicular_Period)", names that have remained in use, which he was already employing in his diaries{{efn|Rickman's diaries are conserved at the [R.I.B.A.](/source/Royal_Institute_of_British_Architects) Library.}} in 1811; he gained a knowledge of architecture which was very remarkable at a time when little taste existed for the beauties of the [Gothic](/source/Gothic_architecture) styles. In 1811 alone he is said to have studied three thousand ecclesiastical buildings.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} In September that year he gave the first of a series of lectures on medieval architecture at the small Philosophical Society of Liverpool, which he had joined. In around 1812 he wrote an essay on Chester Cathedral, which was published posthumously in 1864.{{cite odnb |first=Megan |last=Aldrich |title=Rickman, Thomas (1776–1841) |origyear=2004 |year=2009 |id=23607 }}{{cite journal |last1=Rickman |first1=Thomas |title=On the architectural history of Chester Cathedral |journal=Journal of the Architectural, Archaeological, and Historic Society for the County, City and Neighbourhood of Chester |date=1864 |volume=2 |pages=277–288 |url=https://archive.org/details/rickman-1864-journalarchitec-00unkngoog}} The first publication to appear during his lifetime was an article on Gothic architecture for ''Smith's Panorama of Arts and Sciences'' (Liverpool). This was separately published in 1817 as ''An Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of English Architecture from the Conquest to the Reformation'',{{cite book |last1=Rickman |first1=Thomas |title=An attempt to discriminate the styles of English architecture, from the Conquest to the Reformation; with notices of eight hundred English buildings: preceded by a sketch of the Grecian and Roman orders |date=1817 |publisher=Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/gri_33125009359387}} the first systematic treatise on [Gothic architecture](/source/Gothic_architecture) and a milestone in the [Gothic Revival](/source/Gothic_Revival). It ran through many editions and provided the basis of Rickman's public reputation. He was elected a Fellow of the [Society of Antiquaries](/source/Society_of_Antiquaries_of_London) in 1829. {{Gallery|height=225|width=140|title=Illustrations of the four styles of English architecture from Rickman (1817) |File:Rickman 1817 Plate 10 gri 33125009359387 0156.jpg |Norman |File:Rickman 1817 Plate 11 gri 33125009359387 0158.jpg |Early English |File:Rickman 1817 Plate 12 gri 33125009359387 0163.jpg |Decorated |File:Rickman 1817 Plate 14 gri 33125009359387 0168.jpg |Perpendicular }} ==Rickman's architectural practice== [[File:St Peter ad Vincula Hampton Lucy.jpg|thumb|St Peter ad Vincula, [Hampton Lucy](/source/Hampton_Lucy) is a Grade I listed building.{{NHLE | desc=Church of St Peter Ad Vincula| num=1382119 | access-date=2007-05-07}}]] As an architect, Rickman was self-taught. In 1812 he met [John Cragg](/source/John_Cragg) an ironmaster based in [Liverpool](/source/Liverpool), and they collaborated on the design of three churches that made extensive use of cast iron: [St. George's Church, Everton](/source/St._George's_Church%2C_Everton); [St. Michael's Church, Aigburth](/source/St._Michael's_Church%2C_Aigburth); and St Philip's Church (since demolished) in Hardman Street.{{cite journal |last1=Webster |first1=Christopher |title=Late Georgian Churches: 'Absolutely Wretched' or the Triumph of Rational Pragmatism? |journal=Architectural History |date=2017 |volume=60 |pages=147–181 |doi=10.1017/arh.2017.5 |jstor=26449615|s2cid=194816840 }} When in the [Church Building Act 1818](/source/Church_Building_Act_1818) a large grant of money was set by the government to build new ["Waterloo churches"](/source/Waterloo_church), Rickman sent in a design of his own which was successful in an open competition; thus he was fairly launched upon the profession of an architect, for which his natural gifts strongly fitted him. Rickman then moved to [Birmingham](/source/Birmingham) where he designed [St George's Church](/source/St_George_in_the_Fields%2C_Hockley) for the city.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} The church was completed in 1822 and demolished in 1960, but the churchyard gates remain.{{cite book|author=Douglas Hickman|title=Birmingham|year=1970|publisher=Studio Vista Ltd.}} By 1830 Rickman had become one of the most successful architects of his time. He built churches at [Hampton Lucy](/source/Hampton_Lucy), [Ombersley](/source/Ombersley), and Stretton-on-Dunsmore, St George's at Birmingham, St Philip's, [St Mary the Virgin](/source/St_Mary_the_Virgin%2C_Henbury) and [St Matthew's](/source/St_Matthews_Church%2C_Cotham) in [Bristol](/source/Bristol), two in Carlisle, St Peter's and St Paul's at [Preston](/source/Preston%2C_Lancashire), St David's in Glasgow, Grey Friars at [Coventry](/source/Coventry), [St Michael's Church, Aigburth](/source/St_Michael's_Church%2C_Aigburth) and many others. He also designed New Court of [St John's College, Cambridge](/source/St_John's_College%2C_Cambridge), a palace for the [bishop of Carlisle](/source/bishop_of_Carlisle), and several large country houses.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} [[File:Henbury School Bristol.jpg|thumb|left|Rickman's [Henbury](/source/Henbury%2C_Bristol) School (1830) (now [Henbury Village Hall](/source/Henbury_Village_Hall))]] [[File:Holy Trinity Lawrence Hill Bristol.jpg|thumb|[Holy Trinity, Bristol](/source/Holy_Trinity_Church%2C_Lawrence_Hill): one of Rickman's "[Waterloo church](/source/Waterloo_church)es".]] Rickman attracted a large share of the Church Building Commission's patronage in the new churches built in the West Midlands pursuant to the Church Building Act of 1818. Rickman's transitional Gothic style, that later designers looked down on as "Church Commissioners' Gothic", did not stand the more rigorous scrutiny of better-informed historicists in the age of photography. According to the [''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition](/source/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica_Eleventh_Edition), "[his churches] are all in the Gothic style, but show more knowledge of the outward form of the medieval style than any real acquaintance with its spirit, and are little better than dull copies of old work, disfigured by much poverty of detail."{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} A later, more generous critic, Sir [Howard Colvin](/source/Howard_Colvin), has remarked "He was no [ecclesiologist](/source/Ecclesiology). If the detailing of his buildings was unusually scholarly, the planning remained Georgian, and the total effect of most of his churches is thin and brittle, if by no means unattractive."H. Colvin, ''A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600–1840'' 3rd ed. sub "Thomas Rickman", p 813. Rickman nevertheless played an important part in the revival of taste for medievalism, perhaps second only to [Pugin](/source/August_Pugin).{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} [Henry Hutchinson](/source/Henry_Hutchinson) partnered with Rickman in December 1821 and formed a practice called [Rickman and Hutchinson](/source/Rickman_and_Hutchinson). Rickman remained in this practice until Hutchinson's death in 1831.{{cite book|author=Leslie Stephen|title=Dictionary of National Biography|year=1896|publisher=Smith, Elder|page=267}} ==Personal life== Rickman was married three times: first to his cousin, Lucy Rickman of Lewes; secondly to Christiana Hornor; and thirdly to Elizabeth Miller of Edinburgh, by whom he had a son, the architect Thomas Miller Rickman (1827–1912), and a daughter.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} He was a Quaker for most of his life. Though officially estranged after his first marriage, he continued to attend meetings, and was re-admitted prior to his second marriage. Late in his life, he became a member of the [Catholic Apostolic (Irvingian) Church](/source/Catholic_Apostolic_Church) ==Death and burial== [[File:Thomas Rickman tomb.JPG|thumb|right|Tomb of Thomas Rickman in the former churchyard of [St George in the Fields, Hockley](/source/St_George_in_the_Fields%2C_Hockley)]] Rickman died at Birmingham on 4 January 1841. He was buried in the churchyard of the church he had designed: St George's Church. His tomb, designed by [R. C. Hussey](/source/Richard_Charles_Hussey) and completed in 1845, still stands, although the church does not. ==Major works== *[St George's Church, Everton](/source/St_George's_Church%2C_Everton) 1813 *[St Michael's Church, Aigburth](/source/St_Michael's_Church%2C_Aigburth) 1813 *[Gwrych Castle](/source/Gwrych_Castle), [Abergele](/source/Abergele) 1819–20 *[Old Town Hall, Clitheroe](/source/Old_Town_Hall%2C_Clitheroe) 1820{{NHLE|desc= Town Hall|num=1072374|access-date=4 August 2021}} *[Church of St Thomas](/source/St_Thomas'_Peace_Garden), [Birmingham](/source/Birmingham) (war damaged 1940, now St. Thomas' Peace Garden) 1826–1829 *Bank for [Birmingham Banking Company](/source/Birmingham_Banking_Company) (later Midland Bank), Temple Row, [Birmingham](/source/Birmingham) 1830.{{Citation | last =Ballard | first =Phillada | title =Birminghams Victorian & Edwardian Architects| publisher = Oblong for the Birmingham and West Midlands Group of the Victorian Society| year =2009 | isbn =978-0-9556576-2-7}} *[Holy Trinity Church, Lawrence Hill](/source/Holy_Trinity_Church%2C_Lawrence_Hill) 1832 *[Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Redditch](/source/Our_Lady_of_Mount_Carmel_Church%2C_Redditch) 1834, his only Catholic church.[Historic England](/source/Historic_England), [https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/redditch-our-lady-and-mount-carmel/ Redditch - Our Lady and Mount Carmel], ''Taking Stock'', retrieved 14 June 2022 *Keeper's Lodge, Audley End, Essex 1835 *[St Stephen's Church, Sneinton](/source/St_Stephen's_Church%2C_Sneinton) 1837 *[Bishop Ryder Church, Birmingham](/source/Bishop_Ryder_Church%2C_Birmingham) 1838 *[Rose Castle](/source/Rose_Castle) (alterations), Cumbria ==See also== *[List of new churches by Thomas Rickman](/source/List_of_new_churches_by_Thomas_Rickman) *[List of church restorations and alterations by Thomas Rickman](/source/List_of_church_restorations_and_alterations_by_Thomas_Rickman) *[List of non-ecclesiastical works by Thomas Rickman](/source/List_of_non-ecclesiastical_works_by_Thomas_Rickman) ==Notes== {{notelist}} ==References== {{Reflist}} ==Sources== *Howard Colvin, 1993. ''A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600–1840'' 3rd ed. *{{EB1911|wstitle=Rickman, Thomas|volume=23|page=315}} ==External links== {{commons category|Thomas Rickman}} * {{wikisource author-inline}} {{DNB poster|Rickman, Thomas (1776-1841)}} * [http://www.thomasrickman.org/ Thomas Rickman Home Page] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230220145029/http://www.thomasrickman.org/ |date=20 February 2023 }} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20091031051005/http://www.leverpoole.co.uk/liverpool-st-michael.shtm Photographs of St. Michael in the Hamlet, Liverpool] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20091031050851/http://www.leverpoole.co.uk/liverpool-st-george.shtm Photographs of St. Georges Everton, Liverpool] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20100803022605/http://www.rosecastle66.net/ Rose Castle Website] {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Rickman, Thomas}} Category:1776 births Category:1841 deaths Category:People from Maidenhead Category:Gothic Revival architects Category:English ecclesiastical architects Category:English Quakers Category:Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Category:Members and Associates of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists Category:English architectural historians Category:19th-century English antiquarians Category:Architects from Berkshire --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Thomas Rickman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Rickman) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Rickman?action=history)). 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